The Malaysian Primatological Society (Malaysia)

The Malaysian Primatological Society is an NGO focusing on research on and protection of Malaysia’s unique wildlife, especially primates, as well as training and capacity-building for emerging wildlife biologists and conservationists in the country. As an umbrella species, primates represent a wide range of species that make up the rainforest’s biodiversity, and their protection is a vital part of maintaining this and the functions of the ecosystem in tropical habitats.

In 2020/2021, the Eurofins Foundation provided a grant to support the work of the research team in assessing the impact of oil palm plantation management on the health of the wildlife that forages in plantations, starting with macaques, which act as a natural biological pest control in plantations. Facilitating plantation access through forest corridors in fragmented landscapes may provide economic benefits to farmers and create a win-win situation for the industry and biodiversity.

In 2021/2022, Eurofins Foundation grants are funding the project "Canopy bridges to facilitate the safe movement of small apes (hylobatidae) across habitat fragments" in Peninsular Malaysia.

Habitat fragmentation is increasing in Peninsular Malaysia. Canopy bridges are needed to ensure gibbons and other primates can easily move between habitats to access resources and breed with a wider gene pool. The bridges can also mitigate road collisions for primates and other arboreal animals.

The Malaysian Primatological Society (MPS) aims to restore these critical connections between fragmented habitats by establishing the world's first large-scale primate canopy bridge network. They will be piloting the use of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to monitor the distribution and occupancy of local gibbons before and after bridge installation. The innovative approach will use the gibbons' acoustic signatures to assess their behavioural states.

MPS will monitor the gibbons' activity after they cross bridges and travel away from the camera traps' field of view – something that has never been done before. By collaborating with local institutions, MPS will also allow citizen scientists to get involved by volunteering to help construct the bridges, install them, and monitor crossings. MPS bridges will also be beneficial for environmental education programmes and tours.

This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal

Country or Region